Kirkland, Washington (October 21, 2024) Ziply® Fiber today announced an agreement to acquire the Pacific Northwest assets of Unite Private Networks (UPN), a Kansas City area-based provider of fiber-optic communications infrastructure services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers.
As part of the deal, Ziply Fiber will acquire UPN’s fiber assets, network, and customers in Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The company will add more than 7,000 fiber miles across key cities including Puyallup and Silverdale, Wash.; Homedale, Idaho; and Columbia Falls, Havre and Miles City, Montana and Sheridan, Wyoming. It will provide a variety of both lit and dark fiber services and other commercial solutions to its customers.
“UPN has been a top-of-the-line provider of private fiber networks for more than 25 years and they’ve built a solid reputation both nationally and here in the Northwest that really made this deal something that we were really excited to pursue,” said Harold Zeitz, CEO of Ziply Fiber. “Expanding our commercial footprint in the Northwest has been a priority for us this year, and it’s definitely a win-win to be able to do that while also adding new territory that can help us as we continue to look at edge-out markets on the residential side of our business.”
UPN is owned by Cox Communications, Inc. and has merged with Cox-owned SEGRA®, but for the purposes of this transaction is known as UPN.
Once the acquisition is complete, Ziply Fiber will be able to offer a variety of additional commercial fiber services on its own network, including 100G wavelength, 400G wavelength, 10 and 100G IP transit, 10G ethernet, dark fiber, cloud on-ramps, IP transit and peering, metro and long-haul routes and more.
Ziply Fiber has committed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build an advanced, 100-percent fiber network to both suburban and rural communities across the Northwest that have been underserved when it comes to internet access. The company believes that everyone should benefit from amazingly fast, game-changing internet, not just people in big cities. Ziply Fiber has been actively building fiber across the Northwest since June 2020 and continues to build and deploy new fiber-optic cables, local hubs, new offices, and new hardware to run the network as part of hundreds of projects across its 250,000-square-mile footprint. That’s how the company will deliver what its customers need and deserve as they learn, work, play and move into the future with ease.
About UPN
Unite Private Networks (UPN) provides fiber-optic communications infrastructure services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers. Service offerings include dark and lit fiber, private line, optical Ethernet, Internet access, FiberVoice, DDoS Protection, Cloud Connect, SD-WAN, and other customized solutions. UPN currently serves over 300 communities across 21 states, with 12,000 fiber route miles and 9,500 end customer sites. UPN is also one of the largest providers of fiber WAN services to K-12 school districts in the U.S, serving more than 250 school districts, connecting nearly 2 million students. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, UPN has been providing customer-focused communications solutions since 1998. For more information on UPN, please visit www.uniteprivatenetworks.com.
About Cox Communications
Cox Communications is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through technology. As the largest private broadband company in America, we operate fiber broadband networks in more than 30 states, providing connections and advanced cloud and managed IT services for nearly seven million homes and businesses nationwide. We’re dedicated to empowering others to build a better future and celebrate diverse products, people, suppliers, communities and the characteristics that make each one unique. Cox Communications is the largest division of Cox Enterprises, a family-owned business founded in 1898 by Governor James M. Cox. The commercial division of Cox Communications, Cox Business, provides a broad commercial solutions portfolio including advanced cloud and managed IT solutions and fiber-based network solutions that create connected environments, unique hospitality experiences and support diverse applications for nearly 370,000 businesses nationwide. For more information, please visit www.coxbusiness.com.
About Ziply Fiber
Ziply Fiber is a local, Northwest-based company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, with major offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. Most of Ziply Fiber’s executive team, which consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband, have lived and worked in the Northwest for the majority of their careers. That local ownership and market familiarity is an important part of the company mindset and culture. Ziply Fiber’s primary service offerings are Fiber Internet and phone for residential customers, Business Fiber Internet and Ziply Voice services for small businesses, and a variety of Internet, networking, and voice solutions for enterprise customers. The company continues to support Ziply Internet (DSL) customers, and its TV customers in Washington and Oregon. A full listing of products and services can be found at ziplyfiber.com.
Media Contacts:
Dan Miller, Curator PR for Ziply Fiber Jessica Christopher, Curator PR for Ziply Fiber
206-979-4055 610-945-8615